St.NorbertCollege

Banner General Ledger Account Structure

SNC Chart of Accounts and FOAPAL

This section is intended to help you understand the SNC chart of accounts (COA). Banner allows an institution to have multiple chart(s) of accounts. In order to distinguish a chart, each chart is assigned a Chart Code. SNC only has one chart and its chart code is S. In the production database CWIS, S will be the only valid chart.

The Banner system uses six elements for accounting purposes. These elements are known by the acronym FOAPAL.

Banner Standard Definition / SNC Notes / Ledger
Fund
(Required) / A six character hierarchical field that identifies a self balancing set of accounts. Identifies ownership. / Fund is related to the FASB classifications of:
  • Permanently Restricted
  • Temporally Restricted
  • Unrestricted
Fund includes the following major categories:
  • Loans
  • Endowments
  • Annuities
  • Gifts
  • Grants
  • Scholarships
  • Programs
  • Bank
/ Balance Sheet
General Ledger
Organization
(Required) / A six character hierarchical field that identifies a unit of budgetary responsibility. / Organization relates to a Budget Unit or Payroll Classification. Departments are classified so that information will roll up to the responsible VP.
An Organization can be associated with more than one Fund. / Operating Ledger
Account
(Required) / A six character hierarchical field that identifies objects, such as assets, liabilities, fund balance, revenues, expenditures, transfers. / Account identifies the specific distribution object. This includes revenues, expenses, transfers, assets, liabilities, and fund balances.
An Account can be used in association with any Fund, Organization, Program, Activity, or Location. / Balance Sheet
General Ledger
Program
(Required) / A four character hierarchical field that identifies function, such as instruction, research, or institutional administration. Program codes are used to group financial data into categories for financial statement presentation. / Program identifies operating and non-operating activities for:
Revenues & Expenses
Education and General Expenses including:
  • Instruction
  • Research
  • Public Service
  • Academic Support
  • Student Services
  • Institutional Support
  • Operation & Maintenance of Plant
Auxiliary Enterprises
Interest on Indebtedness
Depreciation Expense
Releases from Restriction
A Program can be used in association with any Fund, Organization, Activity, or Location. / Operating Ledger
Activity
(Optional) / A six character, non-hierarchical field that can be used to further define an object. / Activity can be used to further identify the object of a revenue or expense. It is generally used to identify a specific project, program, course, or activity. In association with the other components of the FOAPAL, it provides very detailed distribution and reporting. / Operating Ledger
Location
(Optional) / A six character hierarchical field that identifies physical locations. / Location identifies where fixed assets are located. It can also be used to identify revenues and expenses generated by a building or room. / Operating Ledger

Ledgers

The General Ledger (G/L) and Operating Ledger (OPAL) are the ledgers most commonly referred to and for which most reporting is done.

General Ledger (G/L):

  • Incorporates data for assets, liabilities, fund balances, control accounts, budget and encumbrance control.
  • Requires Fund and Account
  • Transactions include Beginning Balances and Current Activity.

Operating Ledger (OPAL):

  • Incorporates data for the nominal accounts including revenue, expense and transfers.
  • Requires Fund, Organization, Account, and Program.
  • Optional elements are Activity and Location.
  • Transactions include original budgets, budget adjustments, encumbrances, and YTD actuals.

Other Ledgers that are used within Banner are:

Encumbrance Ledger:

  • Incorporates PO’s, requisitions, labor and general encumbrances.

Grant Ledger:

  • Incorporates activities including revenue, labor, and expenses associated with specific grants.
  • Allows grant year to be different than fiscal year.

Budget Availability Ledger:

  • Incorporates budget, encumbrance, reservation, and expenses.
  • Is used to check budget availability in PO’s, JE’s, etc.

Hierarchy

The hierarchical structure of the FOAPAL elements (excluding Activity) provides for roll-up reporting. For example, the account 71000 Supplies has multiple detail accounts under it, ranging from 710000 through 710049. Each of these detail accounts can be reported or a summary report which sums the detail accounts into account 71000 could be generated.

Data Entry

In order to use a FOAPAL element in the accounting distribution of a transaction, the element must be marked for DataEntry. When you do a search, the query screen will show a No or Yes in the Data Entry field. You must choose an account with Y in Data Entry. Roll-up accounts are not available for data entry.

Credit/Debit

When entering a General Ledger transaction, use D or C.

When entering an Operating Ledger transaction, use a plus (+) or minus (-).

Normal Balance

Every account is assigned a Normal Balance of either Credit or Debit.

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St.NorbertCollege

Banner General Ledger Account Structure

Account Begins With / Account Type Description
1 / Assets
10 / Cash and Cash Equivalents
11 / Investments
12 / Accounts Receivable-Student
13 / Accounts Receivable-Other
14 / Notes Receivable
15 / Pledges Receivable
17 / Inventories
18 / Deferred Charges
22 / Assets Held by Trustees
23 / Assets Held by the Premont Fathers
26 / Fixed Assets
29 / Other Assets
2 / Liabilities
30 / Accounts Payable
31 / Annuities and Interest Payable
32 / Accrued Payroll
33 / Faculty Contracts Payable
34 / Interest Payable
35 / Funds Held in Custody for Others
36 / Student Deposits Held in Trust
37 / Deferred Revenue
38 / Accrued Postretirement Benefit Cost
39 / Long-Term Debt
40 / Capital Lease
43 / Due to/Due from
3 / Control Accounts
45 / Control Account
4 / Net Assets
47 / Net Assets
5 / Revenues
50 / Revenues
6 / Labor
60 / Labor
7 / Expenses
70 / Expenses
8 / Transfers
80 / Transfers In
81 / Transfers Out

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Banner_FOAPAL_1_1.doc

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